Ben Sira 49:1-11

1 The memory of Josiah is like a blending of incense prepared by the art of the perfumer; it is sweet as honey to every mouth, and like music at a banquet of wine.
2 He was led aright in converting the people, and took away the abominations of iniquity.
3 He set his heart upon the Lord; in the days of wicked men he strengthened godliness.
4 Except David and Hezekiah and Josiah they all sinned greatly, for they forsook the law of the Most High; the kings of Judah came to an end;
5 for they gave their power to others, and their glory to a foreign nation,
6 who set fire to the chosen city of the sanctuary, and made her streets desolate, according to the word of Jeremiah.
7 For they had afflicted him; yet he had been consecrated in the womb as prophet, to pluck up and afflict and destroy, and likewise to build and to plant.
8 It was Ezekiel who saw the vision of glory which God showed him above the chariot of the cherubim.
9 For God remembered his enemies with storm, and did good to those who directed their ways aright.
10 May the bones of the twelve prophets revive from where they lie, for they comforted the people of Jacob and delivered them with confident hope.
11 How shall we magnify Zerubbabel? He was like a signet on the right hand,
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.